Cold Night
by Settiai
Summary: Companion to "Fever Bright." All Ted could do was wait.


Ted closed his eyes, reaching up to rub his aching temples. His ribs were sore from where he had hit a wall during the fight earlier, and he could feel the cut on his cheek still oozing a bit of blood from time to time despite the haphazard bandage he had thrown on it. He wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and collapse into bed to sleep for the next week.

"Don't you need to be able to see to fly the Bug?" Booster asked, his voice sounding surprisingly near.

Ted's eyes flew open, his hand quickly jerking away from his face. Then, realizing what he had just done, he rolled his eyes. "I have her on auto-pilot," he said dryly.

Booster grinned at him, though Ted couldn't help but notice that it didn't quite reach his eyes. He looked almost as tired as Ted felt. The entire left side of his face was already darkening into what promised to be an impressive bruise, and water was still dripping from his hair after his impromptu swim in a nearby river. A nearby _freezing_ river.

It took a lot of effort on Ted's part not to flinch as that image popped into his head. He doubted any of the others knew just how weak a swimmer Booster was. The sight of his friend sinking under the water, struggling to make it back to shore without the use of his malfunctioning flight ring, had scared the hell out of Ted.

Booster shot him a wary look. "What does that face mean?"

"Face?" Ted blinked at him. "What face?"

"You know what face," Booster shot back.

Ted rolled his eyes again. "Do not."

"Do too."

"Do n—" Ted realized just how the two of them probably sounded to the rest of the team and abruptly shut his mouth mid-word.

Booster grinned at him. Then he sneezed.

Ted could almost hear the rest of their teammates shifting in their seats to better stare at Booster. Booster's face was a mixture of surprise and sheepishness. The slightly greenish tinge his skin had earlier, a regular occurrence almost every time he flew, faded away almost instantly to be replaced by a red flush. Behind them, someone – probably Guy – snickered.

"What?" Booster asked, crossing his arms defensively in front of him as he turned around. Ted surreptitiously turned in his seat as well. "So I sneezed."

Guy smirked. "Those futuristic genes of yours not enough to keep you from getting a cold?"

Booster rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything. With Guy, that was usually the best action to take. Besides, Guy _had_ been the one who had pulled him out of the water earlier. As annoying as he was sometimes, even Ted had to admit that counted for something.

Still… Ted shot Booster a sharp look. The younger man really didn't look well, and Ted had a feeling that it wasn't just because he was tired.

"Knock it off, Guy," Ted said, frowning as he glanced over his shoulder. "You'd probably be sneezing too if you'd gone swimming in the middle of January."

Guy snorted, but he didn't argue. Considering it was Guy, Ted decided to take that as a win.

"Thanks," Booster muttered, dropping down in the copilot's seat.

"Any time," Ted said, still frowning. He lowered his voice. "You look like hell."

Booster shot him a dirty look, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled his legs up in front of him, curling up in the seat as best he could. Now that Ted was really looking, he could see that Booster was still shivering a little.

Ted reached out and turned the heat in the Bug up a little more. The others would probably start complaining, but he couldn't force himself to care too much. It wouldn't kill them to be a little warm.

"Thanks," Booster said quietly.

Ted glanced back over, raising an eyebrow. "What?" he asked innocently. "It has nothing to do with you. I was cold."

Booster gave him a weak smile before closing his eyes. "Wake me up when we land, will you?"

* * *

Ted stretched as the Bug finally shut down. Other than him, there was only one member of the Justice League still on board. The others had already filed out, disappearing off to who knows where.

"Come on, Booster," Ted said, standing up. "We're back."

Booster didn't stir.

Rolling his eyes, Ted reached over and shook Booster's shoulder. "Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

Booster let out a quiet groan and shifted a tiny bit, but that was it. He didn't wake up.

Ted frowned, starting to feel a little worried. "Booster?" he asked, reaching over to place his hand on Booster's forehead.

It felt as if he was on fire.

"Crap," Ted muttered, kneeling down beside the copilot's seat despite his protesting ribs. The bruise on Booster's face had darkened some more, and there was a flush to his skin that Ted didn't like at all.

"Hey, Booster buddy," Ted said softly, reaching out to gently shake Booster. "Can you hear me?"

There was another groan, but Booster still didn't wake up.

Biting his lip, Ted glanced toward the exit. He liked to think that he wasn't in horrible shape, at least compared to most normal people, but he was well aware that he was probably the least fit member of the team. If he tried, he could probably get Booster inside without any help. But—

Ted reached up and hit the communication device that he was still wearing. "Anyone still listening?"

There was silence for a few seconds, and Ted sighed. He hadn't expected anyone to still have their device on, not really, but he had hoped that maybe one of them forgot turn it off the moment they left the Bug.

"Okay, Booster," Ted said, taking a deep breath. "I guess I'm going to be dragging you inside by myself. I'll try my best not to cause any more bruises on that pretty face of yours."

"_This better be important, Beetle."_

Ted jerked at the sound of Guy's voice suddenly appearing in his ear, and it took him a second to realize that it was coming through his comm. "Guy?"

"_No, it's Batman. What do you need? I was settling down for some me time, if you know what I mean."_

Ted started to roll his eyes, but then Booster let out a moan and shifted again. Worry won out over irritation. "Can you come down to the Bug?" he asked. "I need some help down here."

There was pause. Then, Guy asked suspiciously _"Why?"_

"Booster's burning up," Ted snapped. "I can probably drag him inside by myself if I have to, but I could really use some help."

There was another pause. _"You owe me."_

At that, Ted couldn't help but roll his eyes. He didn't argue, though. He'd learned the hard way that it was usually best to just ignore Guy.

* * *

"Max said to tell you there's a doctor on his way," Tora said, poking her head in the door. "How's he doing?"

Guy snorted from where he was standing near Booster's bed, his back against the wall and his arms crossed in front of him. "He's been mumbling nonsense words for the past ten minutes."

"It's Esperanto. He didn't learn English until he was a teenager," Ted said distractedly, frowning down at the thermometer. That couldn't possibly be right.

After several seconds of silence, Ted glanced up from his study of the thermometer. Guy and Tora were both staring at him with surprised looks on their faces, though Guy quickly wiped it off his face the moment he noticed Ted looking at him.

"What?" Ted asked, confused.

Tora shook her head. "Nothing," she said quickly. If it hadn't been for the fact that she wasn't quite meeting his gaze, Ted might have actually believed her. "I'm going to go back downstairs and let the others know how he's doing."

She disappeared from the doorway just as quickly as she had appeared.

Ted raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Guy.

Guy met his gaze without blinking. "What?" he asked defensively. "We're not allowed to be a little surprised that Goldilocks here speaks more than one language?"

Rolling his eyes despite himself, Ted glanced back down at the thermometer. "According to this, his fever's already up over 104," he said worriedly, looking back up at Guy.

Guy's eyes darted in Booster's direction for just a second, and Ted would have sworn he saw a hint of _something_ in them that looked suspiciously like worry. "I've seen higher," Guy finally said, shrugging.

"So have I," Ted shot back. "That doesn't mean it's a good thing."

Guy snorted, pushing himself away from the wall. "If you're so worried, then maybe you should put some cool rags on his head until the doc gets here."

Ted opened his mouth. Then he closed it. "That's . . . actually not a bad idea."

"Don't sound so shocked," Guy muttered, heading toward the door. He pointedly pulled off the communication device he'd still been wearing and dropped it on the small table sitting just inside the room. "I'm going back to what I was doing before you interrupted me."

Ted glanced down at Booster and bit his lip. Then, reluctantly, he glanced back in Guy's direction. "Hey, Guy."

Guy paused in the doorway, glancing back over his shoulder at him.

Ted met his gaze, albeit reluctantly. "Thanks."

There was a flash of surprise on Guy's face for a second. Then he nodded, though he didn't say anything as he walked out of the room.

"Okay." Ted closed his eyes for a moment, taking a few breaths before opening them again. "Cool cloths. I can do that."

* * *

Ted jerked awake, letting out a curse as he fell out of the chair he had been sitting in and went sprawling onto the floor. He hissed in pain as his aching ribs made it very clear that they didn't appreciate the movement. "Damn it," he said, groaning as he pushed himself back up into a sitting position.

It took him a few seconds to realize that someone was kneeling beside him, helping him sit up. When he did, he jumped again, much to his ribs' protests.

Bea gave him a tired but amused smile. "I thought Max told you not to spend the night in here again."

"He did," Ted said. He would have shrugged, but he suspected his ribs might start a formal protest if he did. "I didn't listen."

"I noticed," she said dryly, helping him stand up. She shot a pointed look at his ribs, but she didn't say anything about them.

Ted glanced down at the bed, where Booster was sleeping fitfully. They had been doing everything they could to keep his fever down the past few days, but it was still resting on the borderline of being dangerously high. The doctor still wasn't entirely certain what was causing the fever, but he had snorted when he had found out just when and where Booster was from and muttered something about "various mutations over centuries."

None of them had taken that as a good sign.

"What are you doing here?" Ted asked, sitting back down in his chair.

Bea shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would check on Booster." She frowned at him. "Not to mention you."

"I'm fine," Ted said immediately.

She raised an eyebrow. Instead of arguing, though, Bea looked past him and let her gaze focus on Booster. "How's he doing?" she asked quietly.

Ted looked at Booster too. "Not too good," he admitted, frowning. "He's woken up a couple of times, but he hasn't actually been aware of anything."

Bea frowned as well. "Tora said he's been rambling in Esperanto?"

"A little bit," Ted said. "I don't speak it very well or anything, but—"

When he didn't finish, Bea glanced at him. "But?" she repeated.

Ted gave a half-hearted shrug, trying to be careful of his ribs. "I pick up a few words here and there. Some names."

Realization appeared in her eyes. "His sister?"

Ted nodded, his attention focused on Booster. "Mostly," he said, staring at the bruise on his face. It was starting to fade from a dark purplish-black to something a shade lighter, though it most likely wasn't actually going to disappear for quite some time. "He's brought up his mom a couple of times too."

Bea looked like she was about to say something. She seemed to change her mind at the last second, though, instead reaching out to gently pat him on the shoulder. "Get some sleep," she said softly.

"I'm planning on it," Ted said, trying to sound like he wasn't lying.

"I'm sure you are," she said, not sounding like she believed him in the least bit. "If Max asks, I didn't see you. You slept in your own bed, just like he told you to."

Ted managed a weak grin at that. "Thanks, Bea."

She just shook her head.

* * *

Ted opened his eyes, blinking as he tried to figure out what it was that had woken him. The last thing he remembered, it had been early evening. The others had dragged him downstairs to get some food, and then he had come upstairs to check on Booster for just a few minutes, and then—

Well, judging by the lack of light coming through the window, he was going to assume that he had fallen asleep.

There was a loud moan from the bed, followed by a mixture of most incoherent Esperanto and English mutterings.

And that would be what had caused him to wake up.

Ted stood up from his chair, quickly walking over to the bed. "Booster," he said, placing a hand on Booster's shoulder. "Booster, you need to calm down."

Booster jerked away from his touch as if he had been burned. His eyes were wide open, but it was obvious that he wasn't actually seeing Ted.

Ted immediately pulled his hand back. Then, even more gently than before, he put his hand on Booster's shoulder again. "Booster."

This time, Booster didn't jerk away. Ted counted that as a win.

"Booster, calm down." Ted paused for a moment, trying to get his voice under control. He could hear it wavering a little, worry and lack of sleep catching up with him. "Booster, it's me. It's Beetle."

Ted thought that Booster seemed a bit calmer. He was still tossing and turning, but he wasn't thrashing quite as wildly.

Taking a deep breath, Ted leaned down. He moved his hand from Booster's shoulder, brushing a few strands of sweaty hair out of his face. "Michael, it's Ted."

Booster slowly stopped moving around, his breathing steadying out again.

"Booster?" Ted placed his hand on Booster's forehead, flinching when it still felt scorching hot to the touch. "Can you hear me?"

There wasn't an answer, not that he had really been expecting one. Hoping, maybe, but not expecting.

* * *

"Hey."

Ted's eyes shot open. He had been half-asleep, his chair pulled a little closer to Booster's bed so that if he slid forward he theoretically wouldn't end up on the floor. Again.

For a moment, he thought that he'd been dreaming, that it had been his imagination playing tricks on him. Then he looked at Booster and realized, startled, that his eyes were open. They were still glassy and feverish, but for the first time in days there was something like awareness in them.

Booster gave him a weak grin. It was just a shadow of its usual self, but it was still _there_. "What?" Booster asked. His voice was raspy. "You look like you thought I wasn't going to wake up or—"

Ted launched himself at him, ribs be damned. He wrapped his arms around Booster in a tight hug, clinging to him as tightly as he dared.

"Oh." Ted couldn't see Booster's face, but he could hear the realization in his voice. "_Oh_. I was that bad?"

"You were that bad," Ted said, his face buried in Booster's shoulder.

Ted reluctantly pulled away after a few more seconds, resting his hand on Booster's forehead. Then he frowned. "Crap, you're still burning up."

"I could've told you that," Booster muttered, closing his eyes. He looked utterly exhausted.

Ted pulled his hand away. "Booster?" he asked.

"Still here," Booster mumbled tiredly. He opened his eyes again, jutting his lip out slightly in a pout. "Get me some water?"

For a moment, Ted didn't say anything. Then, with more than a little reluctance, he pushed himself to his feet. "I'll be right back," he said, giving Booster what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Try to stay awake, will you? I need to go let the others know you woke up."

Booster nodded. "And get me a glass of water?"

Ted snorted. "And get you some ice chips," he agreed, reaching down to rest his hand on the side of Booster's face. He tried to put a joking tone in his voice. "Next time, don't go swimming in the middle of December, will you? You've had us worried."

Booster's mouth twitched, just like Ted had hoped it would. "It wasn't my fault," Booster protested. "How was I supposed to know he was going to throw a boulder at me?"

Ted shook his head. "Excuses, excuses," he said, finally pulling his hand away. "I'll be back. I really should let the others know that you're awake."

"I'll be here," Booster said.

"Of course you will," Ted agreed. He couldn't quite force himself to walk away and head for the door.

Booster stared at him for a moment, frowning. Then, with a grunt, he pushed himself up a little, so that he was halfway sitting up. "Ted, I'm not going anywhere." He met Ted's eyes. "I promise."

Ted ducked his head sheepishly, finally looking away. "Okay, okay, point taken." He gave Booster a small shrug. "I'm being ridiculous."

"A little, yeah," Booster agreed, dropping back down onto the bed.

Ted couldn't help but think that he looked a lot more exhausted than he had before he had sat up. He started to say something but thought better of it at the last second, instead shaking his head and reluctantly starting toward the door. He paused in the doorway, though, unable to resist glancing back. Just to make sure everything was fine.

Booster stuck out his tongue at him.

Ted snorted and rolled his eyes. Smiling despite himself, he started down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. He had some ice chips to find.


End file.
